~June~
11) Emblaze by Jessica Shirvington
12) That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard
13) Insomnia by J.R. Johansson
14) Blood Feud by Alyxandra Harvey
15) A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
16) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
17) The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder
18) Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton
19) The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford

Site Announcements, Updates, Etc

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I would like everyone to welcome C. Lee McKenzie, author of Sliding on the Edge, to my blog. Again. She is the first author I've been able to talk into doing a guest post. It seems the interviews tend to be more popular. Which she was also kind enough to do. lol. So here she is everyone, C. Lee McKenzie.

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Someone at a book signing recently asked me where I came up with stories I've written and what my process was for getting those stories out of my head and onto the page. The short answer would have been, "Don't ask me." But I'm not into short answers, so I gave the question some thought and here's what I've come up with.

Stories come like clouds, usually when I least expect them and usually when I'm attending to other things, like brushing burrs out of my cat's fur. Some of these clouds are dark and filled with the promise of a storm; others are lovely white ones that come in spring and mist the air before scudding out of sight. Some look like mythological creatures or rabbits or faces that shift expressions while I watch. Once a cloud has settled in my brain it pretty much stays until I do something about it.

The problem is it stays day and night, mostly night, so when I'm trying to sleep it's shifting around in my brain, storming or misting or behaving like a unicorn or a satyr. Then my bed starts to fill with characters. They talk to me and to each other. Locations like cities or forests or horse ranches pop up like movie sets and suddenly these characters are in a place, their place, the one they expect me to create on a page, so they'll be able to have somewhere to live.

Then the question of, "What's this story about?" starts nagging at me. Who are these people yammering at me and what do they want or need? I usually wrestle that down by a one or two sentence premise. Once I have that I can start entering the words into a file. I do almost all of my writing on my computer, but during the early "wrestling" stages I'll make notes on just about anything, including the back of my hand--really.

The rest of the process is daily grind and euphoria, depending on how the writing goes. I look forward to plowing through to the end, so I can start the real delving and expanding. Rewriting is my all time favorite job, and I'm not being sarcastic. I have the main thread woven from beginning to end; next it's all about embroidery and texture. It's at this stage I really feel free from the mechanics of where, hen, how and why. I don't know if it makes sense, but this is the closest I can come to explaining how I feel.

While this topic is one that keeps coming up, I don't think readers or writers tire of hearing about the creative "process." Each writer is unique and that's what makes books the treasures they are. We can enter their world, look at life from a different perspective, and learn or enjoy so much every time we turn a page.

I love to hear how other writers "find" their stories and what their process is, so if you're on of those writer types, please share.

Thanks for this opportunity to appear on The Book Pixie. It's been great to be here.

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Thank you so much for being here, C. Lee McKenzie. I loved reading about your creative writing process. The funny thing is it is actually a lot similar to my own.

I hope all of you readers of mine enjoy this guest post just as much as I did. Oh and if the words secret criteria ring a bell, you'll be sure to comment on this post. ;)

5
comments:

I think it is true. Writers and readers always want to know the creative process. For me I want to see if anyone is similar to the way that I am or if it is something that I could learn from and possibly use somehow.

My writing process is similar. I usually know in the beginning the core idea of what the story is about, but the details of the plot and other characters come to me as I write. In other words, I'm wingin' it. :-) I love revision, too, C. Lee.